1993

The Date Rape and Dating Violence Education Project (DRDV) and the UVic Women’s Centre (now the Gender Empowerment Centre) proposed a full-time sexual assault officer for a campus-based assault center, seeking space, funding, and support.

January 1994

The UVSS allotted space for a Sexual Assault Centre within the SUB expansion, creating a work-study position with the DRDV, while UVic also introduced a Personal Safety Officer on the Campus Security team to address safety concerns.

1995

The DRDV conducted the “Sexual Aggression and Aggression in Intimate Relationships Survey,” revealing that 1 in 6 to 1 in 4 women experienced sexual assault at UVic. Recognizing the services provided by the Victoria Women’s Sexual Assault Centre (VWSAC, now the Victoria Sexual Assault Centre), the Open UVic Resource Sexual Assault Centre (OUR–SAC) sought collaboration with VWSAC to extend their services.

September 1996

OUR–SAC opened, having developed a Recent Sexual Assault Protocol and a joint volunteer training program in collaboration with VWSAC.

1996-1998

OUR–SAC operated with a small volunteer team on a limited budget. In Spring 1998, they approached UVSS for a student referendum for a $2/student per term fee increase to fund the Centre. The referendum passed, allowing OUR–SAC to hire a full-time Coordinator in August 1998.

August 2004

OUR–SAC rebranded as the Anti-Violence Project (AVP) to broaden support and advocacy services for survivors of all forms of violence.

November 2017

Another student referendum resulted in a $2 increase in fees for full-time students ($1 for part-time students) to further support AVP’s work, resulting in our current funding (as of 2024) of $4 per full-time student and $2 per part-time student per term.